Loading...
1675-10 Royal Palm Groove (I mh DREARY SHORECREST'S FUTURE MAY BE BRIGHTER 12/31/1995 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1995, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 26 LENGTH: 51 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: The Shorecrest Hotel on Collins Avenue (a) . SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: ELAINE DE VALLE Herald Staff Writer MEMO: NEWS FEATURE, Cover Stroy Side DREARY SHORECREST'S FUTURE MAY BE BRIGHTER The Shorecrest Hotel has seen better days. Its neon sign is the only shining light in the vacant 1500 block of Collins. Surrounded by three boarded-up properties, the Shorecrest is struggling to survive. The three-story Shorecrest, 1535 Collins Ave. , is mostly a residential hotel. Tenants include bartenders, waitresses and shop clerks drawn by the rent -- rooms are $50 a night, but range from $340 to $500 if leased on a monthly basis. They never have to worry about noisy neighbors. To the south: the four-story Bancroft, 1501 Collins Ave. , boarded up for several years. To the north: the long-vacant Royal Palm and St. Moritz hotels. The entire block is planned for major redevelopment -- with the Loews convention center hotel going into the St. Moritz space and the corner becoming part of the Michael Graves' Jefferson-Bancroft project. The Royal Palm, 1545 Collins, is slated for minority ownership. Bidding began anew 10 days ago after city commissioners denied a group of black investors an extension to secure financing. Miami Beach is committed to developing the Royal Palm and the St. Moritz, 1565 Collins, said William Cary, the city's historic preservation coordinator. The St. Moritz -- a 1939 11-story Art Deco building designed by renowned architect Roy France -- will be the centerpiece of the Loews project, Cary said. "The city has invested heavily in terms of dollars and expertise in the restoration and renovation of that building, " he said. "When it's restored, it will be a real focal point for Collins. " But if the block's future is bright, the present is downright gloomy. The 106-room Shorecrest, built in 1940, has had its share of police calls, including a sting operation last October. Owner Cyrus Mehr wants to sell. Asking price: $3.9 million. "But it's negotiable, " said real estate broker Susan Gale. In four months, Gale has had several inquiries -- including a time-share group of investors from South America -- and is now negotiating with a "very well-known chain of hotel operators, " Gale said. "The owner is ready to get out of the Beach and the property has to be renovated so you either have to renovate or sell." Mehr declined several requests for an interview. CUTLINE PATRICK FARRELL / Herald Staff ALL ALONE, FOR NOW: The Shorecrest Hotel at 1535 Collins Ave. sits amid boarded up buildings. TAG: 9503240206 52 of 95, 14 Terms 95, 2 Terms mh HOTEL RENOVATION PLAN UNRAVELS; 06/03/1994 TAG: 9402080975 58 of 95, 17 Terms mh HOTEL FIRE WAS PRESERVATIONISTS' NIGHTMARE 10/11/1990 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1990, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, October 11, 1990 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 3 LENGTH: 58 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BONNIE WESTON Herald Staff Writer HOTEL FIRE WAS PRESERVATIONISTS' NIGHTMARE As Richard Hoberman settled in for lunch Tuesday at the Betsy Ross Hotel, where he hoped to pitch the virtues of Miami Beach's Art Deco District to out-of-town investors, he looked up to find one of the district's most controversial buildings in flames. "They didn't know what to say. They were speechless, " said Hoberman, chairman of the Miami Design Preservation League. "It was very sad." Hoberman stayed on for a chicken breast salad and watched from his table at the Ocean Drive hotel as the abandoned Jefferson Hotel burned to ruin down the street. To local preservationists as well as nearby property owners, a disaster at the Jefferson -- or at other abandoned and unprotected buildings like it throughout the district -- was a matter of time. The preservation league, the city's Historic Preservation Board and surrounding landlords had been pushing for months to have the city secure the Jefferson, the adjacent Bancroft Hotel and an annex. All three buildings, on 15th Street between Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, are owned by Virginia developer William Darter. For more than three years, the city has waited for Darter to start work on a hotel he promised to build around a restored Bancroft in exchange for permission to bulldoze the Jefferson and the annex. Earlier this year, the city revoked Darter's permission to knock down the two buildings and began to pile on fines when he failed to board up the upper levels of the buildings. Marta Soloni, owner of the Shorecrest Hotel, just north of the Jefferson property, last month tearfully begged the City Commission to take the initiative and knock down the buildings or see they are properly secured. Soloni said spot fires at the Jefferson and Bancroft, along with a regular stream of vagrants she has seen around the property and in the buildings, made her afraid her property or guests could be harmed. When Darter failed to meet the terms of his latest deal with the city last month, administrators recommended that the Beach board up the Jefferson and Bancroft and demolish the annex at the city's expense, backed by liens against the property. The issue was scheduled for consideration at Wednesday's City Commission meeting. "It's just very unfortunate. Hopefully the city will move quicker in the future when similar properties are threatened, " said Hoberman, who noted that many other Deco buildings throughout the historic district remain unboarded in defiance of city orders. City Manager Rob Parkins said Tuesday that he was uncertain what, if any, action the commission would take at Wednesday's meeting. However, he said he felt the city moved as quickly as it could to protect the Jefferson and the Bancroft without crossing Darter's rights as a property owner. Although the Jefferson, built in 1939, was not a stellar example of the Art Deco style of architecture, Hoberman said it's still a loss to the district as a whole. "What makes the district so special is there are so many properties from the same pre-World War II period, " Hoberman said. " (The Jefferson's) location is so special, right at the foot of Ocean Drive, you can see it for blocks." TAG: 9003080214 77 of 95, 8 Terms mh MEN ARRESTED WHEELING PIANO ACROSS COLLINS 04/24/1986 UPS SUBSIDIARY PAYS $6.8 MILLION 11/21/1983 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1983, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, November 21, 1983 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 58BM LENGTH: 131 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DUNCAN McLAUGHEN Herald Business Writer MEMO: REAL ESTATE UPS SUBSIDIARY PAYS $6.8 MILLION IN CASH FOR 57 ACRES IN HIALEAH SHORECREST SOLD The Shorecrest Hotel, 1535 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, has been sold. The price of the sale, which was for the building only, was not listed in court records. However, the buyer, Shorecrest III Partnership, was given a $695,000 purchase-money mortgage on the deal. The assessed value of the hotel is $1. 13 million. General partners of the Shorecrest partnership are Efraim Burstyn and Judah Burstyn. The seller was Shorecrest Hotel Inc. , whose president is Stanley Brown. In a related deal, Judah Burstyn and Sam Burstyn, as officers of Burbers Hotel Corp. , were given $1.2 million in new financing for the New Ritz Plaza Hotel at 1701 Collins Ave. City National Bank was the lender. NEW GABLES OFFICE An $800,000 loan has been granted for construction of a two- story office building at 306 Alcazar Ave. in Coral Gables. The Bank of Tokyo Ltd. advanced the money to Laad Marketing Co. Inc., a company registered in Panama. The president of Laad Marketing is Robert L. Ross.